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Quando avremo carteggiato il vecchio mobile, vedremo i graffi.

Quando avremo carteggiato il vecchio mobile, vedremo i graffi.
When we have sanded the old furniture, we will see the scratches.
From Lesson 216:Future perfect with time conjunctions (appena, quando)·Italian

Breakdown of Quando avremo carteggiato il vecchio mobile, vedremo i graffi.

vecchio
old
avere
to have
quando
when
vedere
to see
il mobile
piece of furniture
carteggiare
to sand
il graffio
the scratch

Questions & Answers about Quando avremo carteggiato il vecchio mobile, vedremo i graffi.

Why does Italian use avremo carteggiato (a future tense) when English just says When we have sanded?
In Italian, if an action will happen in the future, you must use a future tense, even after time words like quando or appena. English lets you use the present perfect here, but Italian uses the Futuro Anteriore (Future Perfect) to clearly show the sanding will be fully completed before the next future action (vedremo) begins.
Could I use the simple future and say quando carteggeremo instead?
Not if you want to be precise. Using the simple future (carteggeremo) makes it sound like the sanding and the seeing will happen at roughly the same time. The Futuro Anteriore (avremo carteggiato) explicitly tells us that the first action must be completely finished before the second action (vedremo) can happen.
How is the Futuro Anteriore formed for avremo carteggiato?
You form it by taking the simple future of the helper verb avere (which is avremo for the we form) and adding the past participle of the main verb (carteggiato from carteggiare, meaning to sand).
Why is mobile singular here if the English translation says furniture?
In English, furniture is an uncountable mass word. In Italian, un mobile is countable and means one specific piece of furniture, like a dresser or a table. If you were sanding multiple pieces, you would use the plural i mobili.
Why does the adjective vecchio come before the noun mobile?
A small group of common adjectives related to age, size, or beauty (like vecchio, nuovo, bello, piccolo) usually go before the noun in Italian. Putting it after (il mobile vecchio) would strongly emphasize its old age, perhaps to contrast it with a newer piece. Before the noun, it is just a normal, neutral description.

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